End of the season nearsWill Thompson | First Published: June 2007

The end of the river trout season is upon us again. Due to hot weather, low rainfall and bushfires it seems many trout anglers have not yet had their fill of freshwater fishing. I definitely fall into this category this year.

Over the past month, anglers have realised how quickly the closed season closing is approaching and have started hitting our local streams with a vengeance. Traralgon Creek has been hit pretty hard, and the lower sections have been producing good redfin on baits of worms and smalll spinners like Celtas. The odd good-sized trout has been landed as well, yet the numbers will certainly increase over the next month as the trout move up stream to spawn. With the expectation of better than average rain and snow falls this winter, I expect to have some fantastic reports from the Traralgon next month.

This brings me to Morwell River from where I have anecdotal reports of trout already spawning. This is not surprising after the good rain we have received in the region. This indicates good things to come for the top section of Traralgon Creek from Koornalla and above. This area will be well worth a look until trout closing. If you are a fan of spinning, try using a Berkley 3 inch Power Minnow on a light jig head and I bet you will out-fish any one using a bladed lure.

The Tanjil River has continued to receive a lot of pressure and it seems a lot of anglers aren’t fishing anywhere else. The eastern and western branches above Blue Rock Reservoir are still producing lots of both brown and rainbow trout to 30cm. Flyfishing has been the angling style of choice and dries such as Adams and Royal Wullfs have still been very successful even with the colder weather. Bead head nymphs in nearly any color have been good as well. The bigger fish will currently be moving up out of the reservoir which should make for some interesting fishing.

The Tyers River has been fishing well too, with a lot of trout starting to head up steam to spawn. These fish have been responding to Celtas and Vibrax lures. Boats of worms on a running sinker rig have been successful as well. It is good practice to release these spawning fish as rivers like the Tyers River are only small and they don’t need all their spawning trout killed.

It is a good time to refresh people’s memories that only two trout over 35cm can be kept from many streams, and it is likely that many trout encountered at this time will be bigger than that. They are largely spawning fish too so try to kill any you don’t need.

Remember also that trout season closes on Monday, June 11th. Email us any good reports from closing weekend. I expect there will be plenty of ripper stories this year so good luck! For more information about fishing in Central Gippsland, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 51748544.